Tree of Life – 5

There was no shortage of ambition, or pretension, in Terrence Malick’s fifth opus, which complements, for some reason, the evolution of the universe with the arc of one average man’s (Malick’s?) life in Waco, Texas. Young Jack has steely eyes, and his bildungsroman might have made a good story, although how he morphs into the artistic and sensitive Sean Penn is a bit of a mystery. But the other stuff, from amoeba to dinosaurs to a place that looks like heaven takes us away and slows down what is already the slowest American film I can think of. Nor is the movie helped by the presence of Brad Pitt, whose character looks ugly and acts worse. What do these major directors, like Tarantino and Malick, see in him that I miss completely?